Basket



(No Model.) I I W. M. & E. J. SGHOOLFIELD.

BASKET. No. 453,213. Patented June 2,1891.

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UNITED STATES- PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM M. SOHOOLFIELD AND ELIJAH J. SCHOOLFIELD, OF POCOMOKE CITY, MARYLAND.

BASKET.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 453,213, dated June 2, 1891.

Application filed April 4, 1891. Serial No. 387,641. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that we, WILLIAM M. SCHOOL- FIELD and ELIJAH J. SCHOOLFIELD, citizens of the United States, residing at 'Pocomoke City, in the county of Worcester and State of Mary land, have invented a new and useful Basket, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to improvements in fruit-baskets.

The object of the present invention is to simplify and improve the construction of fruit-baskets and brace and increase the strength and durability of the same without increasing materially the cost of construction.

The invention consists of the construction and novel combination and arrangement of parts-hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and pointed out in the claim hereto appended.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of a fruit-basket embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view. Fig. 3 is a reverse plan view of the cover.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 designates a fruit-basket, consisting of vertical staves 2, which are spaced in the ordinary manner, a solid bottom 3, a cover 4, and top, bottom, and intermediate hoops 5, 6, and '7, which secure the staves together and to the bottom 3, and the top hoops 5 are arranged on the inner and outer faces of the staves. The basket is braced by a series of parallel inclined strips 8, which extend from the top of one stave downward across the nextstave and has its lower end secured to the lower end of another stave, the strip extending across three of the staves and being arranged between the staves and the hoops and secured by nails or the like. Each strip is designed to brace three staves and begins at the top of the stave next tothe one where the adjacentstrip ends; and it will be readily seen that this manner of embracing a basketis simple and inexpensive and is not difficult to construct, there being comparatively little more labor to construct this form of baskets than one without braces.

The cover 4 consists of cross-slats spaced apart, and is provided at its edges with straight pieces 9, which are arranged at intervals and are adapted to rest upon the upper edge of the basket and raise the cover therefrom and provide between them spaces adapted to serve as hand-holes, whereby the basket may be conveniently handled, and the said pieces 9 have their inner faces beveled to prevent bruising or injuring the contents of the basket. The cover is secured on the basket by wire ties 10, which are passed through the space between the top hoops and are bent around the same.

From the foregoing description and the accompanying) drawings the construction, operation, and advantages of the invention will readily be understood.

\Vhat we claim is A basket comprising the vertical staves, the bottom, the top, bottom, and intermediate hoops, the inclined braces 8, arranged at intervals and extending from the top to the bottom of the basket and crossing the staves and being arranged between the same and the hoops, and the cover provided on its lower face with straight pieces 9, arranged at intervals and resting upon the upper edge of the basket to provide hand-holes and having their inner faces beveled, substantially as described.

In testimony that we claim the foregoing as our own we have hereto affixed our signatures in presence of two witnesses.

WVILLIAM M. SCHOOLFIELD. ELIJAH J. SCHOOLFIELD. \Vitnesses:

O. C. LLOYD, O. H. COLBURN. 

